Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Cork valve cover gaskets have always leaked for me. Tony Thompson offers the Comtik brand. Looks like black rubber. Intrigued, I chatted them up via email. I asked what sealant do they use, Hylomar or what? They said you put it on dry. Get out, I thought. "No no, the pressure holds it and compresses it --- caveat-- if your valve cover isnt warped." I own an Elan, ergo I know my sense of humor is and maybe the valve cover. My valve cover does looks true. Who can say a millimeter from one end to the other though after I release pressure of bolts. Are there other gasket alternatives? If I do cork, which sealant should I use? Curious of your opinion Elanites.

best way to check if the cover is true would be to rub it on a surface plate or something the like (if in a pinch an approximation may be a thick glass plate on a slab of particle wood trued on rulers) : if not true enough (...), taping some emery cloth on said surface plate would help manually milling out where it sticks up more.

Cometic is good stuff, but as most modern material does not conform well to wobbly surfaces (same with their MLS head gaskets), so if too far from true, you may want to glue a cork gasket onto the cover using Wellseal (avoid anything silicone based imho) or something the like, let it dry overnight, and torque moderately the next day...

good luck !

Cosmetic gasket plus sheet of adhesive backed nitrile rubber off eBay. Stick the Cometic gasket to the rubber sheet and trim around it. Leak free lift off, and back on, cover. Lasts for ever, as far as I've found anyway!
Dougal

As mentioned above, rub it true. Peice of scrap kitchen worktop. Check with feeler gauges, the fronts are typically warped upwards. Seen almost 30 thou', which can't help.
Glue sheets of metal oxide paper to it with contact adhesive. Put an indelible marker line around the face and rub unitl it is all gone.

dougal9887 wrote:Cosmetic gasket plus sheet of adhesive backed nitrile rubber off eBay. Stick the Cometic gasket to the rubber sheet and trim around it. Leak free lift off, and back on, cover. Lasts for ever, as far as I've found anyway!
Dougal

+1 for the nitrile DIY gasket. I use it plain without the adhesive and Cometic gasket. Lasts, leak free. Make sure, as stated, the cam cover mating surface is flat.
Malcolm

Nitrile advisors. So I found adhesive backed nitrile rated for 225 degrees at Grainger. It comes 2.3mm (3/32nds) at about 38 USD. 3mm (1/8 inch) is 54.00 USD. They also have it at 1.5 mm which to me seems thin. Maybe that is okay. Please speak to this.

So the question now is how thick to buy.

I suppose if I am to coat both sides of the comtik, If so, I will add 3 or 4.6 or 6 mm to the valve cover height. How much height will my bolts accomodate?